Sample Constitution What follows is a sample constitution as prepared by the Clubs Policy Committee (CPC).

A legend for reading the Constitution appears below: Anything written in italics: Anything written in italics represents a comment by the Clubs Policy Committee on the immediately preceding text. There will be areas in the sample constitution we feel a desire to explain our reason for setting a certain minimum standard, and those explanations will appear in italics immediately following the section in question. Anything written in plain text: Anything written in plain text (i.e. not italics, bold, or underlined) represents those items which must be included as part of the constitution of any club. Anything written in bold text: Anything written in bold represents the header for the following subsection. For example, the article numbers all appear in bold to denote that they are the headers for the sections that follow them. (Anything written in parentheses): Anything in parentheses represents a place where we are unable to supply standard information in plain text, as what is required is something customized for your club alone. For example, if the phrase (insert club name here) appears, what is required is your exact club name in place of the text in parentheses. Your club constitution must adhere to all requirements stipulated within the USC Clubs Policy. Once completed, your proposed constitution must be approved by the USC Legal Affairs Officer and the Clubs Policy Committee. CONSTITUTION OF (INSERT YOUR CLUB NAME HERE) Article 1 Name The clubs official name will be (Insert your club name here). No other name will be used in the advertisement or representation of the club. This article is self-explanatory. You must define the exact name of your club that will be used in all official capacities. Article 2 Club Mandate (1) List all purposes for which this club will serve.. Outline and describe the planned purpose of your club. It is important that you not define your club too narrowly or too broadly. By this we mean that you should not simply say that: We want to get students together to have a good time. While this is no doubt a laudable goal, it is much too broad a mandate for

us to ratify. Your club needs a more specific reason for existing, but try not to define your club with such a focused precision that you leave no room for growth and different ideas to emerge. What we recommend is that you give a good, but more general outline of your clubs purpose here, and then really define your thoughts and ideas in the cover letter that you will be submitting to us and the Clubs Policy Committee. When it comes to your clubs purpose and mandate, we will hold you to, and sometimes constrain you to, what is written in your constitution, but we will not hold you to the contents of your cover letter. Article 3 Membership (1) Membership will be open to everyone; (2) Only students at the University of Western Ontario are eligible to hold voting privileges and executive positions; and, (3) Associate non-voting members will be allowed. Firstly, club membership will be open to everyone. No club may explicitly or implicitly seek to limit their membership. Secondly, this is a University and not the community at large, and as such we require clubs to restrict executive privileges and voting rights to current UWO students only. Thirdly, a club is permitted to take in associate members from the community if they so desire. Article 4 Executive (1) The executive committee shall consist of the following: a. President; b. Vice-President/Secretary; and, c. Treasurer. You are not restricted to an executive consisting of only these listed positions, but these positions represent the minimum requirements. It is highly recommended that you divide the positions of Secretary and Vice-President if you so desire. However, do not include extra positions just for the sake of doing so. Determine what positions you can consolidate and merge. A small and efficient executive can get things done better than a large cumbersome bureaucracy. Article 5 Responsibilities of the Executive (1) The President will: a. Oversee the other members of the executive in fulfilling their responsibilities; b. Chair all meetings; and, c. Have signing authority for the club. (2) The Secretary/Vice-Presidents will:

a. Assist the President in her duties; b. Assume all powers of the President in her absence; and, c. Be responsible for recording the minutes of all meetings. (3) The Treasurer will: a. Be responsible for overseeing all financial dealings of the club; b. Keep complete records of all financial dealings of the club; and, c. Have signing authority for the club. The above responsibilities represent the minimum duties required of each executive in order to ensure that the club is run smoothly. You may add responsibilities as you see fit and of course if you have added further executive positions, you will have to define duties for each new position. Article 6 Finances (1) The executive will set a membership fee annually. It is not necessary to define how much you will charge in your constitution. It will limit your club later when you want to raise the annual fee and have to go through a whole constitutional amendment process just to do so. Instead, say that you will be collecting a certain fee and the executive will determine this fee Article 7 Meetings (1) At least three general meetings shall be held during the school year, including the Annual General Meeting; and, (2) Members will be informed of each of these meetings at least seven (7) days in advance. These are the minimum requirements. Do not bother to get more ambitious than this and say that you will hold numerous meetings per year because then you will have to. Just give us the above stated minimum that you will need to hold, and try to hold more as time and scheduling permits. Article 8 Elections (1) All election procedures will abide by the USC Clubs Policy. This is all you need to say for your executive election procedures. If you want to know the current requirements for executive election procedures, please see the Clubs Policy. If you wish to do so, you may copy all election procedures from that section into this section of your constitution and change the above article to read something like (1) All election procedures will abide by the policies set out

in the Clubs Policy, Section 6, subsection 16, as follows: (insert election procedures here)). Article 9 Amendments (1) Amendments to the constitution must win a two-thirds majority vote of the present members; and (2) An amendment to the constitution must be approved by the USC Clubs Policy Committee, which must be presented with a typed copy of the proposed amendment as well as typed minutes from the meeting when the amendment was passed in order to prove that this amendment was adopted. These are the precise requirements, so do not modify them beyond what is stated above. Article 10 Impeachment (1) Any member of the club who commits an act negatively affecting the interests of the club and its members may be given notice of impeachment; (2) The impeached individual shall have the right to defend her actions; and, (3) A two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of members present will result in the removal of the impeached individual from the club and the loss of any privileges associated with the club. It is best to include impeachment procedures such as those outlined above. You will probably never use the impeachment procedures. In the end, you will be glad that you included this part in your constitution. Article 11 Refund Policy (1) Initiating a refund policy for club members which is to include the following format and minimum standard: i. A member may apply to her club for a refund within one (1) month of becoming a member of the club, or within one (1) week of the clubs first official event if: a. There has been a misinterpretation of the clubs mandate and proposed activities as specified to the member when signing onto the club. ii. A member may only apply to her club for a refund after one (1) month of signing up for membership for the club, or after one (1) week of the clubs first official event for extenuating circumstances; a. Extenuating circumstances include, but are not limited to:

Serious organizational issues with the club executive that led to a complete lack of communication to its members, or lack of programming as promoted to its members; and, Any circumstances that seriously hampers the ability for the club member to enjoy its membership to the club. b. Where a club and its members cannot resolve the refund issue, a club or the member may request assistance from the Clubs Coordinator who will act as a mediator between the Club and the member to reach a resolution. Article 12 Agency Clause (1) The (Insert your club name here) is not an agent of the University Students Council and its views and actions do not represent those of the University Students Council. This is required exactly as stated above.